DELIVERING NEWS TO MID-COLUMBIA SENIORS SINCE 1982
IN-PERSON EVENT!
APRIL 2022
Vol. 10 | Issue 4
TUESDAY, APRIL 19 Pavilion at Southridge 9 A.M. − 3 P.M. Numerica Sports & Events Complex
Trios employees bid farewell to birth center on Auburn campus By Senior Times staff
Past and present Trios Health employees bid farewell to the Family Birth Center on the Auburn campus on March 22, one week before the unit moved into a $22 million new one across town at Trios Southridge Hospital. Kennewick General Hospital, operated by a public hospital district, opened in 1952 on Auburn Street and welcomed generations of Tri-Citians. Melissa Wilson, Family Birth Center supervisor, said the old campus was a home away from home for many staffers. “It’s a bittersweet feeling to leave a cherished place like this behind. This place had a soul that made our community feel safe, cared for and welcomed,” she said. The closing ceremonies included opening a time capsule, which was hidden on the campus on March 11, 1989. It contained several newspaper clip-
Courtesy Trios Health Trios Health staff honored the old Kennewick General Hospital as the birth center prepared to move to its new Southridge campus. A 1989 time capsule included news clippings and a letter from staff to the future.
pings, pictures from events at Kennewick General Hospital over the years, and a letter written to “future KGH employees,” among other items.
KGH and most of its assets were sold in 2018 after the public hospital district sought protection from creditors by filing for bankruptcy. It is now owned and
operated by LifePoint Health, Trios’ Tennessee-based for-profit parent. “Today, we honored the facility that has allowed excellent care for 70 years and to honor the citizens of Kennewick for founding and establishing KGH,” said John Solheim, Trios Health chief executive officer. “It took a tremendous effort and financial commitment to get started, and I am sure if they were here today, they would be proud of what has been accomplished in this facility. “We are excited to relocate our Family Birth Center from its current location at our previous campus on Auburn Street to our new hospital, which opened in 2014.” Construction began in February 2021. The two-story, 23,000-square-foot addition was built above the first-floor surgery department and connected to the second and third floors of the hospital. Nearly 10,000 square feet in the uTRIOS, Page 2
Public market readies for its Kennewick debut By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
There have been plenty of efforts to bring a public market to the Tri-Cities. But after years of talk, an all-private effort with 70 vendors, including Ice Harbor Brewing Co. and Columbia Industries’ Opportunity Kitchen, is about to open one in Kennewick. The Public Market @ Columbia River Warehouse is set to debut its first phase in May in the former Welch’s-J. Lieb Foods campus strad-
dling Bruneau Avenue, said Kelsey Bitton, project and property manager. The market is an ambitious and timely remaking of a property that once anchored Kennewick’s industrial downtown. The former juice plant has operated under several names, including Welch’s, and was put on the market in 2019 after the most recent manufacturer, J. Lieb Foods Inc., was purchased by Refresco Beverages USA. Columbia River Warehouse LLC, led by Corey Bitton of Pasco, closed
the $2.7 million purchase in 2021. Kelsey Bitton said the initial plan was to lease it to a larger business but turned to the market concept to generate cash flow after larger plans collapsed when financing dried up. “Obviously, from a business standpoint, the owner needed to lease it out,” she said. Downtown Kennewick seemed like a natural place to start, despite longstanding efforts to create a market on the Pasco side of the Columbia River. The old J. Lieb-Welch’s property
was not designed as a public market, but it does not need a lot of work to convert. It has the critical elements a public facility needs – fire sprinklers and ample power to support vendors, as well as restaurants and small producers. “We don’t really have anything like that in the Tri-Cities. We don’t have that many buildings in the Tri-Cities with that downtown, industrial warehouse feel. That’s very in right now.” uPUBLIC MARKET, Page 2
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
MONTHLY QUIZ
How much did a home visit by Pasco physician Dr. Foskett cost in A 72-year-old pitch marked the start of Tri-City baseball history
Page 7
WA Cares, even with delays, is a win for Washington
Page 15
the 1930s? ANSWER, PAGE 11
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